Joy Loverde says get out of the senior-living business.

I had all good intentions of writing this blog about a wonderful person by the name of Ms. Peggy; but a brief encounter I had yesterday with a senior-living professional changed all that. So Ms. Peggy, I will write about you soon. I promise.

What would possess a senior-living professional to become defensive the instant I approach him or her and ask how things are going in his/her domain? Fear of losing control? Possessiveness of process? I could not get out of the way of this person’s wrath fast enough. I had never met this person before and hope to never cross paths again.

This is not the first time that I have experienced cold-spirited human interaction in the senior-living setting. Importantly I ponder… if these professionals are in direct contact with people I love and care about, what the heck goes on after I leave?

An organization filled with honest, motivated, connected, eager, learning, experimenting, ethical, and driven people will always defeat the one that merely has information. Every time.

So… do us all a favor and get out of the senor-living business if you…

live in fear of losing your job

are a control freak

prefer to tell people what to do and how to do it

are emotionally closed off to interacting with strangers

think you are always right

are closed to new ideas

can’t take criticism

have a tough time parking your ego at the front door

have a low trust threshold

I am waging a war on job attitude. Not everyone thrives in a customer-facing role. (And yes, yesterday I was a customer.). If you are not a 100% people-person, do us all a favor and leave the business altogether. The good news is professional head-hunters have identified specific careers that do not require a customer-facing role. Perhaps you are better off in some of these fields: